tribaltextiles.info

This is (to me) a very beautiful and interesting jacket which I bought as, and believe to be, a Dong jacket - probably for a child. It is cotton, mostly calendered, hand-spun and hand-woven cloth with silk embroidery. The jacket has most certainly been well worn and has also had at least one 'makeover' for re-using the embroidery. There are clear signs of where there may have been earlier folds in the fabric which were sewn down and then undone to enlarge the fabric. Pieces have been let into the sides.

I find it very interesting to see the value which has been placed on the very fine and time consuming embroidery. The embroidered braid around the bottom of the jacket has been pieced and, again, part of it - from the brightness of dyes - has been hidden from light at some time and then revealed. Some of the edging pieces are silk and some cotton.

As I commented to Richard, the main embroidery designs and the braid at the bottom and sleeves and the edging on both are very similar to the apron shown in his post http://www.tribaltextiles.info/communit ... ?p=674#674 and now I see, as Andrew's photos on the same thread of a piece from a baby carrier.

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

Is it possible that this jacket has been made up using 3 of Richard's 'aprons'?

The size would be about right for a child's jacket and this might also explain the folds in what would have been the edging pieces of fabric and the areas where the colours have not faded. My 'apron/baby carrier piece' also has a strip of red cloth with loose chain stitch embroidery around the inner edge, as seen around the opening and collar of this jacket.

Andrew,

This is food for thought indeed. I think that it is entirely possible that the jacket has been made using three such apron/baby carrier pieces. Whether it has been is, of course, another matter and I guess we will never be sure.

It is interesting that there is a join across the two fronts and the back were the three panels come together when there is no obvious construction reason why there should be. Interestingly enough, the additional narrow pieces of fabric which are inserted at the side of each possible apron do not have joins to match the joins of the three large embroidered blocks. This would suggest that the maker of the jacket very possibly started with the three very fine embroidered blocks as the basis for the jacket. If the jacket was for a child it would be natural to use blocks from a baby carrier, if this is the source rather than aprons, as the child got bigger. This would not be the case if the baby carrier was needed for additional babies.

Of course, it is quite natural to carry out the embroidery on separate blocks as these are easy to manage and embroider and quite portable. If the embroidery is done on an individual block format it can then be used for an apron or a baby carrier or as panels on a jacket depending on the needs at the time.

Thanks for the very interesting suggestion.

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource